August 1-14, 2009
From August 1 to the 10th we were either at my bil (brother in laws) or here at home. Coming home from Jim's was when we had the Muscovy adventure. We did numerous shops up near his home at Vinita, OK so that made a nice central location for a very good camp fee. We generally donate to food or utilities or both while camped there.
On August 11, 2009 I swallowed a tiny capsule to take care of a thyroid problem I have. It was radioactive, this meant I needed to be very careful with who and what I came in contact with for five days. I thought about, for maybe 5 seconds, just sitting and vegging out in front of the bedroom tv for those five days, instead I've decided to take advantage of it to be very productive
So here's my grand plan on what to do.
I. Take precautions, that means following the doctor's orders and limiting the exposure I give my family and animals to my "glowing" personality. That means I have barricaded myself in the master suite of the house, away from the four house cats. All the doctors were quite clear that I could possibly endanger their health by allowing them to sit on my lap or hug me with their daily leg wrapping caresses.
It also means I am sitting on a chair covered in first plastic than blankets that I will later wash in hot soapy water. I'm sleeping on an air bed several feet away from the bed I normally share with my husband. I love him too much to be less than the recommended 7 feet from him.
As I work on the major clean out of the room I wear gloves.
All foods and the massive amount of liquid I am told to consume are taken off of disposable dishes, which will be burned.
Double and triple flushing of the toilet because the radiation will come out in body fluids.
Twice daily showers, followed by thoroughly cleaning of the shower.
These precautions were all recommended by the doctor who handed out the radioactive capsule
II. I'm not much of a tv person. So to keep from going stark raving mad I'm cleaning. Shelf by shelf, drawer by drawer. It's a slow process because of all the precautions of gloves and layers of plastic I am using. After all I don't want to radiate the room.
When Gary does come into the room I point out items he is to gather and dispose of so I do not contaminate the items.
III. Computer work. I'm so far behind on a lot of the day to day things like budgeting and such so I'm working on those items a lot.
IV. Culling magazines. We all have those–gonna get around to reading XYZ article some day. I'm reading those. Entering the wanted crafts, recipes, articles etc into the computer and adding them culls to a sack to burn. Normally I recycle them, but I'm being very cautious right now.
VI. Writing, blogs, journals, and stories.
You know I don't think five days is going to be enough!!!
Anyway that's the grand plan. So far today, day three
One of the things I've promised in my blog is to add recipes for all my bulk cooking recipes eventually so...
BISCUITS ANYONE?
One of the many things I do to stretch our limited budget is to make all my own mixes whenever possible. I like the way it cuts the expense and allows me to control what goes into them. I'm lactose intolerant, ds has numerous food allergies and dh tries to watch his salt intake. So the control is a good thing for our family.
Two of our most used homemade mixes are both a biscuit type product. One I use for biscuits of all sorts, including dumplings and the other I use like the well know major brand biscuit cooking mix to make "Impossible" pies and other goodies. Since I'm in isolation right now and can't cook I thought it would be a good time to post the recipes for both, along with various variations that will work both on the road and at home for all.
First the Stir ‘em up Roll ‘em Out biscuit mix.
STIR ‘EM UP, ROLL ‘EM OUT BISCUIT MIX WITH USES AND VARIATIONS.
Sweet Milk Biscuits
12 C all purpose flour, I used unbleached OR 6 C whole wheat + 6 C all purpose
6 TBL. Baking powder (recipe follows) (7 TBL if using whole wheat mixture)
2 TBL salt
3 ½ C powdered milk OR 4 TBL soy milk powder
Mix well. I do this in a large bowl or roaster pan with a wire whisk. Store in an airtight container in a cool dark place. Makes approximately 16 C of biscuit mix.
To use for basic biscuits, variations will follow.
2 C mix + more if needed
1/3 C cooking oil
2/3 C water
Preheat oven to 450, Spray baking sheet or cooking pan with cooking spray.
Make a well in the middle of the baking mix. Mix the oil and water together and then pour into the well. Mix the dough until well moistened, do not over mix as it will toughen the biscuits. The dough should not be sticky. If it is add a small amount of the biscuit mix. On unfloured board/wax paper roll dough out to ½ " thick (1/4" for Southern Style) and cut with a unfloured bicuit cutter or glass rim. Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown Makes 16 medium biscuits.
BUTTERMILK VERSION
12 Cups all purpose flour, I used unbleached
4 TBL baking powder (recipe follows)
2 TBL salt
1 ½ tsp baking soda
2 C powdered buttermilk OR 4 TBL soy milk powder
Mix well. Store in an airtight container in a cool dark place.
To use for basic biscuits, variations will follow:
2 C mix
1/3 C cooking oil
2/3 C water
1TBL vinegar–IF using the soy milk powder.
Preheat oven to 450, Spray baking sheet or cooking pan with cooking spray.
Make a well in the middle of the baking mix. Mix the oil and water (and vinegar IF doing the dairy free version) and then pour into the well. Proceed as for the sweet milk biscuits.
Variations:–measurements are for using 2 cups of mix.
CHEESE BISCUITS: add ½ C grated cheese of choice to the flour mixture before adding liquid.
BACON or SAUSAGE BISCUITS: add ½ c cooked Bacon Bits (about 4 slices) or ½ c. cooked sausage) to flour mixture
HERB BISCUITS: add 1/4 tsp dry mustard, ½ tsp crumbled dry sage and 1 1/4 tsp caraway seeds to flour mixture.
ITALIAN HERB:
Add 2 tsp of the following mixture to the dry biscuit mix
Italian Herb Seasoning mix–makes 7 tsps
Ingredients:
* 2 teaspoons dried basil
* 2 teaspoons dried marjoram
* 2 teaspoons dried oregano
* 1 teaspoon dried sage
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients; store in an airtight container.
BUTTER DIP BISCUITS
Dip the biscuits in melted butter before baking.
GARLIC BUTTER DIP BISCUITS
Dip the biscuits into your favorite melted garlic butter recipe before baking
CINNAMON BISCUITS
Dip the biscuits into melted butter and then into a mixture of cinnamon sugar before baking OR mix the cinnamon sugar with the dry mix before adding liquids.
DROP BISCUITS
Use slightly less biscuit mix and drop by tablespoons full on baking sheet
DUMPLINGS
Mix as if they were drop biscuits and drop onto the boiling mixture of whatever you want to add dumplings to. Cook 10 minutes uncovered and then 10 minutes covered on a lowered heat.
QUICKY COBBLER
Mix add 1/4 c sugar to dry mix then mix as for drop biscuits. Then drop by tablespoons full on top of fruit mixture.
SHORTCAKES
Mix 1/4 c sugar into dry ingredients and prepare as for drop biscuits, only spread it out in a cooking pan if you like thick short cake, or two pans if you prefer thin ones.
BAKING POWDER RECIPE–Aluminum free homemade version.
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Ingredients:
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
* 1 teaspoon corn starch (optional)
Preparation:
Mix the baking soda and cream of tartar together until well combined. Use immediately.
Yield: One tablespoon of baking powder.
To store baking powder: Add a teaspoon of corn starch to the mixture, and stir. This will absorb any moisture from the air, and prevent the baking powder from reacting before you need it. Store in an air-tight container.
HOMEMADE VERSION OF THE FAMOUS BISCUIT MIX
8 ½ C all purpose flour
4 tbl baking powder (recipe above)
1 tbl salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1 ½ c instant nonfat dry milk OR dry buttermilk powder OR 3 tbl soy milk powder
2 1/4 c shortening
Blend dry ingredients well then cut the shortening with a pastry blender or heavy duty mixer. Store in an airtight container in a cool dark place.
WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT VERSION
use 4 1/4 c all purpose flour and 4 1/4 c whole wheat flour. Increase baking powder to 5 tablespoons.
Use like you would that famous baking mix for Impossible pies, oven fried chicken and any other recipe you would normally use. You might also try the variations for the biscuits above.
Jan who has a bunch of these biscuit mix recipes she uses on a regular basis that she will eventually post in OK
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